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These 5 Customer Experience Stories Will Melt Your Heart

We’ve all had our share of amazing customer service experiences, and we can attest that when a company goes above and beyond the call of duty we not only share those experiences, we also become loyal customers. Sometimes these stories don’t get the attention they deserve. In fact, it’s more common that the stories we do hear about are the ones where customers are unhappy because of a bad experience. It’s not fair that we constantly have to shame brands. Let’s take a moment to share 5 amazing acts of kindness from well-known brands across a number of industries.

Here are 5 tear-jerking customer experience stories for you to enjoy.

Because Family Means Everything

It’s not uncommon for airlines to be the focus of criticism: delayed flights, poor customer service, costly airfares, etc. But this time we’re going to honour one such airline that did something amazing to help a passenger.

Kerry Drake was on a mission to get to Lubbock, Texas as soon as humanly possible. Unfortunately his mother was dying and he knew he only had a short amount of time to get to the hospital and say goodbye. To get to Texas, the San Francisco resident booked a United Airlines flight, with only 40 minutes between connecting flights. When his first flight was delayed Drake knew he would miss his connecting flight to Lubbock; the last flight of the day. A flight attendant became aware of the situation and got his connecting flight information to the captain. The captain had radioed ahead about Drake’s situation, and the Lubbock crew had delayed departure to get him on board.

Drake was overwhelmed with emotion. He made it to the hospital in time to see his mother. “Around 4 a.m. she had a real moment of coherence, a last rally, although we didn’t know it at the time. It was the last time.”

She died that next morning.

When Life Calls for an Umbrella

Wendy’s is a fast-food establishment known for its quality value in ingredients, preparation, and service. This story shows that Wendy’s employees really understand how to go the extra mile to service patrons.

This picture was taken by a Wendy’s customer who was staying in his car to keep dry during a complete downpour. Moments later he saw an older gentleman walk out of the restaurant and towards the parking lot, but what melted his heart was watching a Wendy’s employee remove an umbrella from a nearby table to keep the man dry. I think Dave Thomas would be proud of this moment. The world is a better place because of people like this. Kudos to Wendy’s for hiring A+ employees.

60+ Years in the Making

At 14 years old Dave Bell went out to buy his favourite salty snack, Pearson’s Salted Nut Roll. When Dave took a bite he felt something in his mouth that was out of the ordinary. He decided to write a letter of complaint to Pearson’s Candy Company and accompanied the letter with the offending material. He was hoping he could get a free candy bar from the complaint, but instead he received a simple letter of apology saying, “We are alarmed over your letter. We are reasonably sure the above mentioned is a twig from our peanut vine.”

Sixty years later, 74-year old Bell stumbled upon the letter and emailed the candy company for another shot at getting free candy. It took more than 60 years, but this Minnesota man finally got a taste of victory. Pearson sent Bell a package of several candy bars, including a five-pound salted nut roll. Pearson’s CEO Michael Keller said, “His claim was totally legitimate and we decided to send him a little bit of free product to make good on what we missed 61 years ago.”

Aloha Mr. Teddy Bear

At first sight, this may just look like a teddy bear ready to hula, but if you read on you’ll see that’s there’s more to this story. A Netbook CSR received a call from an elderly woman whose computer wasn’t working. She had already suffered two strokes and her computer was the only way for her to communicate with her daughter and son-in-law who lived in Hawaii. The rep explained that the Netbook would have to be mailed in for repairs and that it would take a while for the computer to be returned. The elderly woman began to cry, so the rep decided it was time to do more. The CSR sent the woman a new Netbook and even helped her set up passwords and account names, and downloaded Skype so she could immediately resume communication with her family.

After a few months the rep had forgotten about the service encounter, but one day she received a teddy bear with a hula skirt, along with a note thanking her for all she had done.

A Blissfully Sound Sleep

Have you ever gone to a hotel and really wanted to keep the robe, or pillow, or maybe even the duvet. Sometimes hotels just have the best stuff.

Christina McMenemy can relate to this feeling. As a loyal customer to Gaylord Opryland she became completely enthralled with their alarm clock – yes, that’s right. The alarm clock played light music, similar to that of a spa, and it gave McMenemy some of the best sleeps of her life. For three years McMenemy tried to find the exact model clock from her hotel room, but had no luck. McMenemy decided to message the company’s Twitter page during her most recent trip to Opryland. Gaylord responded saying that their version of the clock was not available to the public. But upon returning to her room she was surprised to find not one but two spa clocks and a letter with her name on it. I don’t think McMenemy will be staying at any other hotel in the future.